When I moved to Connecticut, one of the “benefits” was the reduction of my state income taxes. Fits the whole Taxachusetts image that Massachusetts carries around, I guess. The image is pervasive (let’s be honest, how can anyone deny Taxachusetts has a nice ring to it). Politicians from Massachusetts generally get tarred with the Taxachusetts label almost immediately upon hitting the national scene. Kerry is no different. Bush supporter Senator Zell Miller (D - Georgia) was the latest to break out the “liberal from Taxachusetts” line:

Taxeorgia

Yes, I know that it isn’t quite as cute as “Taxachusetts,” but can I take this opportunity to point out what a total moron Zell Miller is?

Sen. Zell Miller, the Bush campaign’s most famous Democratic attack dog, ripped into John Kerry on Saturday as an “out-of-touch, ultraliberal from Taxachusetts” whose foreign and domestic policies would seriously weaken the country.

[Eschaton]

Atrios then goes on to point out the following statistics from the Tax Foundation:

State and Local Tax Burden rankings: Georgia ranks 18th, Massachusetts ranks 36th.

Business Friendliness rankings: Georgia ranks 25th, Massachusetts ranks 12th.

Then, there’s this:

And, hey, what do you know? It appears you welfare lovers in Taxeorgia are sucking at the federal government’s teat! Taxeorgia gets more from the federal government than it sends in taxes! For every buck you freeloaders send to DC you get $1.01 back! What of Massachusetts? Well, suprise surprise! Massachusetts is supporting layabouts like Taxeorgia! A whopping $.25 of every dollar Massachusetts sends to the Feds is stolen from them and redistributed to states which can’t manage to take care of themselves, like Taxeorgia.

I have some deep point I want to make about substance vs. perception in policy creation (think “War President” vs. “Bungled War President”), but I’m too tired to do a good job. Point is that perception is shaped by noise like this senator from Georgia repeating stereotypes that just aren’t true. It would be nice if there was a way to encourage people to look past the noise…